The reopening of the Vasari corridor in the Uffizi

The Uffizi Gallerythe Most important gate in Italy, He opened the public for the first time in history Vasarian Corridor, and elevated bridge (The “Aire Tunnel”) About The heart of the city of Florence that in the Renaissance They used the great dukes to move safely. The rulers of the Medici dynasty They sent to build this passage to walk from their residence – the Palazzo Pitti – to the headquarters of the Government – in El Palazzo Vecchio -, all spaces that today make up the exhibition halls of this impressive museum.

This corridor of 750 meters long It allows to enter through the gallery of statues and paintings of the museum, walk through the bowels of Ponte Vecchio and go out through the Boboli gardens, as in the time of the great dukes, with an unique view of the city of Florence.

And “Vasarian corridor” It was built by the architect Giorgio Vasari in 1565 By order of Cosme de Médici, which saved the ruler to travel through a “poor and infamous area of ​​the city, and stay safe from his enemies, since he suffered repeated murder attempts during his reign.

For the first time in history, The tunnel became accessible to the publicsince its reopening on December 21. In recent decades he had opened only for specialists and In 2016 it closed for security reasons to be restored.

Now, who visit Florence and buy an entrance of 20 euros They can access this space that offers a unique panoramic walk on the center of Florence, to the other side of the Arno River: A true leap in the time of almost five centuries, on the heart of the city.

The recovery project for the reopening of the Vasari corridor – realized by the Uffizi and the Superintendency – demanded 18 months of studies and research which involved dozens of specialists, more than a thousand programming pages, 200 square meters of drawings made, 23 reported reports, 2,435 photographs, tens of tests and material testing, to return their original image to the hall, according to the museum. The works were around 10 million euros and his last restoration went back to the 90s.

It is Passage with windowswhich offers an impressive panoramic view of the citywas designed by Giorgio Vasari on the initiative of Cosme I of Medici, Grand Duke of Florence and Toscana, on the occasion of The wedding of his son Francesco with Giovanna de Austria, in 1565.

The guests of Habsburg’s house accompanied by the princess They should be amazed by this aerial tunnel on the city. The works of its construction lasted at that time five months.

This masterpiece of Renaissance urbanism It crosses several streets, borders the Arno River, crosses Ponte Vecchio and integrates into historical buildings such as the Church of Santa Felicita.

The return of this architectural wonder is literary to The latest novel by Irish writer Maggie O’Farrell: The married portrait (Asteroid books, 2023), where the author rescues the story of Lucrezia de Medicidaughter of Cosme and the Spanish Eleonora de Toledo: a young woman who travels, as a child, the same halls and gardens that served as a refuge for her parents.

The reopening of this monumental space in Uffizi It evokes the intrigues and ambitions of the Medici and is one of the scenarios in which O’Farrell’s novel takes placewhere the life of this young Duchess who grows in the confines of a powerful family, incredibly privileged, but whose tragic existence is full of mystery is followed.

From the moment he was born, Lucrezia had a single destination: to make a marriage that was politically advantageous for his family.

O’Farrell reinterprets from fiction the story of this quiet and insightful girl That at 15 he joined in marriage to Duke Alfonso de Ferrara, an advantageous agreement for the Medici clan, but she died before serving the first year of married, officially for tuberculosisalthough it was rumored that had been poisoned by her husband.

“I saw the only portrait that exists of her and looks worried, anxious, as if she had something to say, and I knew she wanted to write her story,” the author told this chronicler in an interview conducted in 2023.

O’Farrell knows how to give a unique voice to characters that have been marginalized by official historyas did in the international bestseller Hamnet (2020) where it reveals The story of Shakespeare’s son who died at age 11 And that inspired the famous play Hamlet.

In The married portrait –Which takes largely in what is today the most important museum in Florence– the Irish Rescue the little explored story of the third daughter of one of the most powerful dynasties in Italy.

The masterpieces of the Uffizi Museum, such as “La Primavera” of Botticelli, or “The Birth of Venus” as well as paintings by Migue Angel, Leonardo da Vinci or Rafael were the paintings that adorned the walls of the family residence and that The young Lucrezia could contemplate every day, since they were part of her home.

The official story tells that it was her older sister, Maria, who was in principle promised to Alfonso, but as she died, the wedding responsibility moved to the “invisible”, the “insignificant” Lucrezia.

The only portrait of Lucrezia de Médici – in which the Irish writer based her novel – It was made by Angelo Bronzinoone of the most recognized painters in the Florence of the 16th century, and is preserved today in the museum.

However, although there is in the Uffizi gallery A full room dedicated to the portraits of the family of Cosimo de Mediciof himself, of Eleonora and his sons and daughters, Lucrezia’s portrait is not in that room but in the small palatal galleryon the other side of the Arno River, and is located very down on the wall.

“It is very difficult to find your portrait. And that broke my heart because it is emblematic of how her family and history have treated her: as someone insignificant. I hope that one day the Uffizi will bring her back to the room with her family, where she belongs, ”O’Farrell had said (Coleraine, Ireland El Norte, 1972), who debuted as a novelist with After You’d Goneto those who followed My Lover’s Lover, instructions for a heat wave, has to be here and the book of memories I’m still here.

The reopening of the Vasari corridor, that Passage that once served as a refuge for powerfulit opens now to the world, allowing visitors not only to contemplate their architectural greatness, but also Walk through the same halls through which the figures that O’Farrell rescue in his novel walk.

In addition, this January 21, The museum also reopened the Palazzo Pitti which remained closed since 2020: it is 14 rooms on the first floor of the palace that have been restored and that worked during the Renaissance as the residence of three Florentine dynasties, including Cosme’s family.